SHADE OF GREY Takes Disneyland

8/27/09 – Shade of Grey continued it’s festival run with a screening in Indie Fest USA… more specifically, this means it played in DISNEYLAND… Crazy.

The relentless promo-whore known as Scott Ganyo was a good chap for going to the opening night party for the festival and representing the film, since I was unable to attend. I journeyed out later in the week (more specifically on the day of the screening), once again waking up around the time party people are still causing a ruckus, and driving to the airport roundabout 3am. Check my bags, pass through security, and once again, Jake’s on a plane.

I continue to read more entries in Roger Ebert’s “Your Movie SUCKS” when I notice a trend – two of the reviews I’ve read in the span of 10 minutes described plot elements involving plane crashes. I’m not superstitious, so I think nothing of it until the pilot gets on the intercom and informs us of his name… Michael Myers. The universe is trying to kill me.

Thankfully, the flight goes smoothly, as does my connecting airborne excursion, and next thing I know I’m in Anaheim (sporting a Thrice shirt no less… figured it was fitting since it’s their town). After taking the shuttle to my hotel, which I realize is much nicer than I anticipated (the Hotel Menage… something that elicited more than a few chuckles from me on the trip… I need to grow up), I head over to Downtown Disney to start a fight with the mouse, and find the theater.

The theater was pretty great, actually. I got to check out flyers and posters for some of the other films in the fest that I’d missed. Looked like a pretty cool lineup. Scott showed up and we headed in for the screening, which went pretty well. I have yet to have a screening of Shadeof Grey without someone walking out, and this time was no exception. I’m fine with it (actually I’m rather proud of it), as I consider it a rather polarizing film – one you either like or you don’t (one of the downsides to making an indie art-house drama as opposed to something in the horror or comedy genres, which sell much better). A family I was talking with before the screening ended up leaving about 3/4 through during a scene of Evan rolling in the sheets with one of his ladies. I suppose the film was, shall I say… too sexy? Sigh. The sound in the theater was great (it’s almost the best I’ve heard Shade sound, actually). After the showing, we did interviews on the red carpet outside, and dodged over to ESPN Zone for drinks. From there we spent the rest of the day meeting and hanging with other filmmakers, watching some of the features and shorts that played throughout the day, grabbing drinks (and eventually food!) at ESPN, and finally we decided to be selfish and binge, taking in a double feature of District 9 and Inglourious Basterds, my second time viewing each. Rock.

The next day we hit up IHOP and basked in pancake glory, then played around Downtown Disney. Later in the afternoon we did a sit down interview for Shade of Grey. Then it was time to get ready for the closing party/awards ceremony, which required black tie… so after donning the Bond garb, we hit happy hour and then went to the red carpet for the party. There was singing, dancing, drinking and snacks, and celebrity presenters. And by celebrity I mean Joey Buttafuoco. I shit you not… Awesome. Sadly, there were no awards thrown the way of Shade, but the evening was a lot of fun. Met more cool filmmakers and geeked out over all things cinematic for awhile before heading over to the House of Blues to continue ranting and partying. One of our fellow filmmakers-in-tow bought all of us Jägerbombs, which I’m pretty sure is the universal sign for friendship. The rest of the evening was full of cinematic debates, on-set recounts, ventings of indie-realm frustrations, and grand philosophical and existential ponderings, made all the more prevalent thanks to hefty social lubrication.

The next morning I got to check out and leave the hotel at 6am to catch the shuttle to the airport, after which I spent the entire day hopping around airports and flying back home. All in all, a fun time.

I haven’t seen the videos of the interviews pop up online yet, but be sure I’ll post both them, and pictures, when they’re available. In the meantime, take a look at some of this crap, and stay tuned for more awesome!